| 1/250 | f8.0 | ISO 200 | 35mm | RAW |
I was driving home from a canceled Boy Scout training session and I noticed the beautiful bank of clouds being lit up by the early evening sun. It's the kind of setting where you want to find something nice to put in front of it, so I thought of the recently finished Suwanee City Hall.
As I was parking, I looked for where I thought would be the best perspective. I also noticed that the sun was dangerously close to going behind some clouds, so I knew I didn't have much time. I literally ran to a spot that, while not my choice for the best location, would let me get a good shot as soon as possible. I then went to the spot I had picked out initially and got some more photos.
When I got back home and looked at all of the shots, the first one turned out to have the best combination of clouds, color, and composition. It reminded me of something I read about how Ansel Adams got his Moonrise photo.
He was traveling down the highway when he noticed the moon rising over the mountain and the village in the evening light. He slammed on the brakes, pulled over, and hopped out with his gear. He feared there wasn't enough time to measure the light and determine the proper exposure, so he made his best guess and took the photo. Then he went through his normal process to take a photo, but before he was done the light was gone.
Adams probably drove away thinking he had missed a perfect opportunity for a wonderful photo, but we all know now that he didn't. One of his most famous photographs was a guess – a well-educated guess, mind you – but a guess all the same.
The main lesson to learn here is to pay attention to your surroundings and don't be afraid to snap off a quick shot at something that looks great. You never know when that moment may be the only chance you've got. Then take the time to make sure you have everything set for a great photo.
I shot this at f8 to get a really sharp photo, and then focused about two-thirds into the scene (around the water fountain in the front) to make sure everything was in focus, from front to back. I also shot it a little loose so I could crop it in the way I wanted once I got it loaded on the computer. Finally, I followed the rule of thirds by putting the building down in the lower third of the photo, which helps place more emphasis on the cloud formation above it.
In order to avoid a slanted effect (where the sides of the building seem to slant towards each other), I purposefully went up the slope in front of the building in order to be standing more on an equal elevation. You can see the camera level is just above the awning over the front doors. This way I was aiming the camera straight ahead instead of aiming it slightly upwards, which would have created the slanting sides of the building.
I really like this photo. Some of the impact is lost here in the small version, but the full-blown shot is fantastic. The only regret I have is something out of my control. I wish the clouds were more puffy and separated, instead of one massive cloudbank.
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4 comments:
First of all, I have to say that sharpness doesn’t mean much when you have 35mm focal length and you probably where about 50 feet away? , (just guessing on the distance). And with the old assumption that you’ll not crop your picture and you’ll be printing an 8x10 your near focal point would be about 13 feet, and back focal point is infinity. With shooting that far away really it’s what is closer to that will be more in focus when you go with a smaller f/stop.
Also I think the lighting is a bit hard, the tower at the top left is where I look to first, but then I see everything else in the picture, so makes me wonder, what really is this a picture of… so maybe the picture taken earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon when the light isn’t as bright.
Brian, thanks for your comment.
I hadn't noticed the problem with the clock tower before, and I agree that the light on the clock tower is too strong. I think it was not the time of the day (which was 7:30 p.m., as shown by the clock) that caused this, however, but the shape of the tower itself. It is either a hexagon or octagon, and the part of the tower that is overexposed is the side directly facing the sun in regards to my angle of view. That's what caused the overexposure.
I think I will go back and see if I can fix that with some post-processing.
As for the first part of your comment, I fear either I am misunderstanding your point or you have misunderstood what I intended about shooting at f8. With the short focal length (35mm) and the distance of the focal point, I could have shot this at a wider aperture and still gotten everything in focus. But my experience with my lens is f8 is a great aperture for making things in focus look sharper without sacrificing much shutter speed.
Depth of Field is a fun topic in itself, and I’m always amussed by the assumption pictures will not be cropped and you’ll be printing an 8x10, with that said and done… basically depth of field goes into 4 calculation steps.
First Circle of Confusion:
The Circle of Confusion is defined as is an optical spot caused by a cone of light rays from a lens not coming to a perfect focus when imaging a point source
Formal is:
C = (P / f) / 250
C = Circle of confusion
P = diagonal of print
f = diagonal of film focal plane
35mm is 36x24 so f = 43.3 mm
8x10 print P = 12.8inc or 325.12mm
And when you plug the numbers in.. you get a Circle of confusion of 0.03
Hyperfocal Distance:
The distance in front of a lens that is focused at infinity beyond which all objects are well defined and clear
Formula is:
H = (F2 / Fs*c) + F
H = Hyperfocal Distance
F = Focal length (mm of the lens)
Fs = F/Stop
C = Circle of confusion
Take your values here…
H = (35*35 / (8 * 0.03) + 35
H = 5139.16
..
Now here is the fun part.
Near Distance:
The Distance in front of the focused distance of the lens which all object are well defined and clear
Formula is:
N = ( S * (H - F) ) / ( H + S - ( 2 * F ) )
N = Near distance
S = Focused distance (in mm where you actually focused the lens to)
H = Hyperfocal distance
F = Focal length
Put this formula in action:
N = (15240 * (5139.16– 35) ) / (5139.16+ 15240 – ( 2 * 35) )
N = 3830.16 mm
N is about 12.6 feet
Far Distance
The Distance behind of the focased distatnce of the lens which all object are well defined and clear
formula is, however is the answer is less than 0 Far Distance is infinity.
Fr = ( S * (H - F) ) / ( H - S )
Fr = Far distance
S = Focused distance (in mm)
H = Hyperfocal distance
F = Focal length
Fr = (15240 * (5139.16 – 35) / (5139.16 – 15240)
Fr = -7701
So Fair distance is infinity!
So basically here is the values for 35mm, focusing the lens at 50 feet, with the lens at 35mm
All and all, you have to shot at f2.4 before you’ll see a difference in the depth of field for an object that far away,
still the far focused distance is about 500 feet with that fstop!!
Wow . . . you have some free time on your hands!
Thanks for the thorough explanation. I was wondering what the print size had to do with anything, and now I know. Sometimes it is really interesting to know all of the math involved in something you do automatically with the push of a button!
I think you have earned a free pass to comment anytime. :)
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